Tag: arboretum

Day 2290

Wednesday January 10th 2024

Dear Journal:

This morning we are heading out on another adventure, we are going to meet up with Mary & Julie at the Olive Mill in Queen Creek, it is a forty five minute drive from the Arboretum, it is a spot that we always enjoy visiting a couple of time a year while in this area. It is an actual olive mill with a working olive oil press and they produce a number of flavoured oils that we enjoy many of and they also have numerous balsamic vinegars as well.

As always we will leave the olive mill with some more flavours today, as every month they offer a pairing of an oil and a vinegar that compliment each other nicely, and you save a couple of bucks when you buy the pairing, on this visit it was a Meyer lemon olive oil with a pomegranate balsamic, which we now have in the coach.

Miss Coco was not allowed into the store, so I stayed out on the patio with Miss Coco while Laurie, Mary & Julie went to grab a coffee and explore the store. They offer samples of all the products, which I’m sure drive up their sales numbers each month. It was a sad morning as we said so long to Mary & Julie as they head back to California to their winter rental property. Always great to see friends, and to be able to share the Arboretum with them was wonderful. They have a five hour drive back to California so by noon we had bid them a farewell and the promise to see them soon.

We head back to the Arboretum as the busyness of the first week of the year is now in the rear view mirror, and we need a day to settle back and prepare for a weekend of volunteer work.

I failed to put this in yesterdays blog, for a few reasons, the first is that in true Arboretum style there is an art exhibit that has been added but there is no information to explain it. There is a blurb on the Arboretum website but you really have to hunt for it to get a one line explanation of what it is. Here are a few phots of the art display.

Now I’m not a good person to ask about art, and I also believe that everything has its place, and I’m not sure whether this display add to or takes away from the natural beauty of the Arboretum. But from what we have been told by staff it that the hedgehog cactus statues have been painted by local artists and they will be on display until October when they will be auctioned off at the fall Gala, as a centennial fund raiser. And that is how we try to explain the display to visitors at the admission booth.

Blog 504

Day 2289

Tuesday January 9th 2024

Dear Journal:

We woke this morning almost as excited as kids on Christmas day, yesterday we went to Mesa for a number of reasons, one was to get this weeks grocery supplies, second was to return Ray’s plastic welding equipment, and third and certainly not the least to meet friends from Ontario. And we even had the bonus of finding a Chinees buffet that was one of the best we have experienced in the States.

This morning our friends Mary & Julie (and Coco) are coming to visit us at the Arboretum, and as if the day wasn’t going to be great enough already, Tom & Kathleen (and Lucy) are going to join us for lunch. We love our American friends that we have met on the road, but to have some Canadian friends make an effort to visit us, well that’s just over the top. Miss Laurie has got everything under control, lunch is planned, the timing of our guests, and the planned route in the Arboretum.

Mary & Julie have decided to spent a few months in the southwest this winter, with family in California and a return visit to a previous hometown a number of years ago. And we are lucky enough to have them spend a few days in the Mesa area which is about 45 minuets from our location, and they have decided to come to the arboretum and see what we keep raving about.

We walked the main trail at the Arboretum before making it back to our coach for lunch with Tom & Kathleen, today we are barbequing burgers with all the fixing. And introducing everyone, even Lucy & Coco seem to make friends or at least tolerate each other, it was a cool day in the desert but it was sunny so sweatshirts were needed when in the Arboretum but optimal on our patio in the sunshine. After a nice visit Tom & Kathleen headed back to Casa Grande and Mary & Julie left for Mesa, we made plans to meet them tomorrow for an adventure to the Queen Creek Olive Mill, a wonderful place that we visit a few times each winter, olive oils and balsamic vinegars as well as having a cafe that serves a number of items that showcase their products.

Blog 503